Stringed musical instrument.



P. L. GAYTON. STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. APPLICATION FILED JULY 23,1907.

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' Patented Dec. 15, 1908.

PHILLIP L. OAYTON, OF NATIONAL SOLDIERS HOME, TENNESSEE.

STRING-ED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 15, 1908.

Application filed July 23, 1907. Serial No. 385,150.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PHILLIP L. GAYTON, a citizen of .the United States,residing at National Soldiers Home, in the county of \Vashington andState of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inStringed Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to musical instruments of that class inwhich vibrating strings or wires are used in connection with a resonantbox or sounding board.

The invention consists in certain new and useful improvements in stringinstruments such as violins, guitars, mandolins, etc. whereby, theconstruction is simplified and the tone greatly improved.

The object of the invention is to produce a musical instrument of fullerand sweeter tone than those now in use.

A further object is to produce a musical instrument of simplerconstruction than those now in use.

ith these objects in view and further objects which will appear as thenature of my invention is better understood I have constructed severalinstruments according to the principle of my invention one of which isillustrated by the annexed drawing which shows the invention as appliedto the construction of a violin, and in which,

Figure 1, is a perspective view of my improved instrument. Fig. 2, is alongitudinal sectional view of the same, and, Fig. 3, is a top plan viewof the same.

Similar reference characters refer to corresponding parts throughout theseveral views.

The body of the Violin comprises the front board 1 and the back board 6,spaced apart by the head and tail members 8 and 7 respectively.

2 indicates the neck, 3 the keys, at the strings and 5 the bridge.

The members 7 and 8 are each provided with a groove 011 its inner face,and are formed with curved en'ds conforming in shape to the adjacentportions of the boards 1 and 6; and said ends are quite short, leavingthe sides of the box open as indicated at 9. The curved ends are slottedcentrally, forming continuations of the grooves and an intermediatesounding board 10 is provided having its ends arranged in said groovesand slots.

11 represents posts for separating the sounding boards and holding themin proper relative position. hese posts may be of any number desired,the larger number giving generally a more mellow tone to the instrument.

In instruments constructed in accordance with my invention the soundholes in the top of the box are entirely omitted as the sound isproduced outside of the box and not inside of it and no openings arenecessary for its escape. The openings 9, however, are left at the sidesof the box, but this is to give the sounding boards greater freedom tovibrate than they would have if secured together at all points alongtheir edges.

My invention was the result of a belief that the volume and quality oftone could be improved by so constructing the sounding boards as to givethem greater freedom to respond to the vibrations of the strings.Accordingly I constructed a number of instruments some having two andsome having three sounding boards in which the edges of the boards wereboxed together only at the ends as shown at 11 on the drawing andleaving the open spaces 9 at the sides of the box. These instruments,although rudely constructed have been pronounced of very superior toneby competent musicians, some of whom have praised them above their owninstruments which are of great age and high value.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing the advantages of the construction and the method of operationwill be readily appar cut to those skilled in the art to which theinvention appertains and while I have described the principle ofoperation of the invention together with the device which I now considerto be the best embodiment thereof I desire to have it understood thatthe device is merely illustrative and that such changes may be made whendesired as are within the scope of the claim.

Having now described one embodiment of my invention as applied to aparticular instrument and making it expressly understood that I do notwaive my right to any other embodiment thereof, what I claim is:

A stringed musical instrument comprising a front board and back boardspaced apart by a head member and a tail member, each member beingprovided with a groove on its inner face, and said head and tail membersIn testimony whereof I have signed my each being provided with curvedends formname to this specification in the presence of ing short sidewalls which are slotted centhe two subscribing witnesses.

trally forming continuations of said grooves, PHILLIP L. (DAYTON. 5 asounding board arranged in said slots and Witnesses:

grooves, and posts for separating said front J OHN J OURDAIN,

board back board and sounding board. ED I. LAU'DERDALE.

